Q: Do I need a will? Trust? Or are RDP papers enough? See question below.

A: Good questions! The law in California divides people’s estates [your assets left behind at death] into two categories: (1) estates with assets totaling $184,500 or less in value; and (2) estates with assets valued at more than $184,500. People who would fall within the second category — which is almost everyone who owns real estate in California — should do some estate planning because, if they don’t, their assets will go to family members designated by law after 1 - 3 years of court hearings in Probate Court. If you want your assets to go to your partner and you aren’t married, it is ESSENTIAL that you have a trust or will. A trust would avoid the whole Probate Court process and allow the distribution of assets to take place privately. If you had a will instead of a trust, your loved ones would be required by law to go through the public probate process, which means anyone who is interested could see all your assets, all of your debts, and a lot of other information about your family and you. This is a high-level overview of the law. A lawyer would need to learn more information before giving you advice on an estate plan that will work best in your situation. Finally, I cannot comment on any online estate planning because I haven’t read the documents they’re selling. But I can say that estate planning is a very hands-on, detailed process and I’ve seen people buy notebooks full of documents from insurance companies and, because the people didn’t know what to do with the documents, ended up wasting their money because their estate ended up going through probate anyway and judges award the assets to family members listed in the law, not the people the deceased folks say they wanted. Best wishes.